The Twin Who Was Lost
by Ethia
Summary: Zeke's been living with his adoptive family for many years now. But what happens when he's asked to train his twin (who he's never met) and his friends? Just because Zeke is a natural spiritualist does he really have to do all that work? Zeke, Yoh, and Hao all exist in this AU where Yoh has both a twin and an ancestor. Warning: Original characters.
1. Pain of Birth, Endure the Heartache

**AN: This is an AU inspired by two pictures of Hao in the manga that are different then what we see of him in the rest of the series. In this story there will be 3 Asakura siblings. Yoh, Hao (who is the ancestor), and the real twin named Zeke.**

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**Chapter 1: Pain of Birth, Endure the Heartache and Loss**

"Push Keiko… Steady now. This is almost done," Kino said as she monitored the situation. Keiko had gone into labor hours before hand but it looked like the twins were finally on their way. Sweat beaded down Kino's face. Swiftly, she raised a handkerchief up and rubbed the sweat off, bumping her sun glasses in the process before setting the handkerchief back down. Her husband and son-in-law sat to Keiko's side, ready to handle the twins.

Keiko's hand crab-walked its way to her husband, Mikihisa's hand. He laced his fingers around hers and she gripped his hand forcefully.

"Now mama," She said to Kino before she gave one final push. Her first born slid roughly into his grandmothers waiting hands. Kino hastily cut the cord connecting mother and child and then handed it to her own husband, Yohmei.

Keiko turned to her son, laying in his grandfathers arms. She wanted to scream and yell, kick and fight, do anything in her power to stop him from what he was about to do. But as her father raised the blade in her hands she remained quiet. She had already resolved to herself that this was for the best. A tear slowly slid down her cheek as she clenched her eyes shut and turned away from what was about to happen.

Yohmei knew that he couldn't waste any time. As he prepared to slam the blade into his defenseless grandson he faltered, shaken by the site of his daughter crying. Though his hesitation only lasted a second his luck had run dry. Before the blade could reach the child a barrier had surrounded him. It was red and hot. Yohmei jumped away from the crying babe as a red spirit with two cross-looking horns, covered in white markings, grabbed hold of the baby and began snickering.

"_You really thought you could kill this poor baby that easily?" _a voice said, echoing through the heads of the adults in the room.

"Hao!" Kino said, standing quickly and gripping her cane as though it were a sword.

The spirit began snickering. Sensing that something bad was going to happen, Mikihisa stood quickly and jumped in front of Yohmei as the spirit unleashed a wave a fire. The fire spread quickly up his body and he dropped to the ground, rolling as Yohmei and Kino rushed over to him, trying to help put out the fire.

Keiko watched as the spirit began flying towards the ceiling, her baby in its clutches.

"_Take care of my other half, mom," _the voice said, adding the last word sarcastically, all the while sounding wickedly sadistic.

The spirit continued rising until it and the child were forced to go through the ceiling. Even higher it rose after that, reaching high into the sky. It's warm body comforting the baby in its arms. Once they had reached the clouds the spirit created another protective barrier over the baby and then rocketed to America.

The night continued onward as the spirit flew. After a few hours the spirit saw something in the distance. It was light blue and rose up high into the sky like a mountain on fire. It was the Great Spirit, and it was near the Great Spirit that its master waited.

As the spirit descended to the ground it's master came into view. It's master was a spirit dressed in white robes with long dark-brown hair that fell well below his waste.

"So this is my new form?" The man, whose name was Hao, said as he took the baby from the red spirit. The baby began crying as he was suddenly removed from his heat source. "Hush little one, it will be over soon."

Hao's wispy hand entered the baby's body, causing the small child to scream louder, and then the baby became silent. Hao's hand moved back out, pulling a small essence out with it. As Hao moved the essence towards his mouth it began crying.

"Interesting," Hao said as he looked at the essence somewhat perplexed. "The last time I did this the baby never cried. It simply became a part of me." He looked down to his spirit who shrugged to him. Hao moved the essence back to his mouth, ready to devour it, when the essence pulled away from him and up towards the Great Spirit. Hao let the essence go. "You'd rather go back to the Great Spirit, hmm?"

Hao bent down and entered into the body of the silent child. The body that was once cold grew quickly warmer as it flooded with renowned life. Hao's spirit grabbed hold of the baby Hao and flew back into the air.

Within the Great Spirit, the baby's essence began screaming even louder. Several hundred spirits within the Great Spirit flew towards the baby. Blood, organs, muscles, tendons, veins, and skin all began to mold around the baby spirit.

"We're giving you a second chance," a spirit woman said as she grabbed hold of the re-fleshed baby.

"We've asked the Great Spirit to restore you to your original form," a spirit man said as he followed the woman and child towards the edge of the mountain of blue fire.

"With Hao's and the Great Spirit's power you were able to gain a new body," another spirit woman explained.

The three spirits waved goodbye to the hundreds of spirits that were watching them, promising to be back before the night was over.

They made their way towards the nearest city, disgruntled by how different society had become from when they were alive. They placed the baby on the stoop of an orphanage and then flew away, wishing the baby "good luck."

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**AN: I know it might be a little cheesy but there you have it, my first chapter.  
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	2. Will Christmas Never Come?

**AN: Okay so we're now on the second chapter of this fic. This one is LONG. Like a sentence or two over 17 pages. I have the story outlined and I think I'm looking at 10 chapters total. Hopefully they won't all be this long -_- I'm not going to update it again until I have another chapter of W.o.B. uploaded (my Naruto fic) so hopefully that'll encourage me to get through both stories at a decent pace. If I'm right in guessing that this is going to be 10 chapters long then more main Shaman King characters should be showing themselves about chapter 6, though that doesn't include the regular characters who will be introduced in the next chapter (you'll know who they are at the end of this chapter.) If I believe the story length is going to change I'll "AN" about it. Enjoy the story :)  
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******Disclaimer: I don't own any of this and I'm not trying to sell any of it.**

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**Chapter 2: Will Christmas Never Come?  
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A little boy scrambled out of his bed and raced towards his cracked, wooden dresser. He yanked the drawer as hard as he could but it wouldn't budge. The boy, who had long, dark-brown hair that fell past his shoulders, put his foot on the dresser and pulled again. There was a strange squeaking sound and then the door slid out several inches. He shoved his hand deep into the drawer and dug around for some fresh clothes. Once he had found a shirt and some pants he stripped, then changed, and headed out of his room.

"Miss Maria, I'm going outside mm'kay?" The boy asked as he headed for the front door.

Miss Maria sighed, "have fun, Zeke, be back by lunch."

"Will do," Zeke said before leaving the orphanage. Zeke ran towards his favorite place in the city: Patch City Cemetery. Down the street, take a right, and then up a long hill, and up the top of a hill is the entrance to the large cemetery; the only cemetery in the city.

But as it had been for the last several days, a group of boys, aged nine to eleven, were standing at the cemetery gates waiting for him.

"Uh-oh…." Zeke mumbled as he stopped running. He would have hidden but the boys already noticed him. He looked at the stone wall that was separating him from his friends hiding in the graveyard. One of his friends poked her head over the top of the wall; the fact that she was transparent made it so he almost didn't notice. "Hello grandma Yohko!" he said, waving frantically, his face lighting up with a big smile.

"Who you waving to?" One of the young boys said. This boy was named Samuel Shai, and he had a bad attitude. Nine years old and he was already bullying poor little orphan boys like Zeke.

"Just my friend…" Zeke mumbled. He knew the boys couldn't see the ghosts like he could.

"Weird that the orphanage lets a four-year-old play with ghosts, isn't it guys?" Samuel laughed to his friends.

"Better than being a nine-year-old who's jealous of his older brother…"

Samuel jumped towards Zeke, grabbed the front of his shirt, and punched him in the face. He pulled Zeke closer and whispered into his ear, "I don't know how you know about that…" he began to say.

"I know because I can read your mind," Zeke said, whispering back.

Samuel punched him several more times before throwing him to the ground and kicking him once. "Let's go guys." The gang of kids left, mumbling about how creepy Zeke was.

After several minutes Zeke stood up and dusted his pants. He stumbled towards the cemetery entrance, wiping blood off his face, and sighing in relief as he entered the premises. Zeke walked down the familiar cobblestone road, making his way up another hill. From the top of the hill he could see the familiar glow of the Great Spirit, as the ghosts in the cemetery called it.

"Rotten of them to hurt such an innocent four-year-old," the spirit from before said as she floated over to him.

"Yes, but I am different than the other kids my age," Zeke reasoned. "I can see why they'd be scared." He sat down beside a tall, old tree, leaning back and resting his head on the trunk. "Granny, tell me again why I'm so different?"

Yohko laughed lightheartedly and took a spot next to him as other spirits made their way out of their graves and over to the two. Spirits of young children, men and women, and of course old people who had lived long lives, surrounded Zeke in a large assortment. As Yohko began to explain, spirits of animals began to make their way over as well.

"Four years and some months ago our ancestor, Hao Asakura, reincarnated into this world. He stole you away from my descendants, your mother and father, and brought you to the Great Spirit where he pulled you from your body and took possession of it." Zeke gulped nervously, that part always made him sick, like he could remember the pain in his gut as his soul was pulled out. "You refused to merge with him and he gave you to the Great Spirit. I, along with other spirits from the Asakura family, remade you and left you with the orphanage."

"You left out the best part Granny," Zeke wined playfully.

Yohko chuckled. "Right dear, right. You have a twin brother named Yoh."

"And Yoh get's to live happily with our mother and father," Zeke said, curling into a ball and pouting. He looked up to Yohko. "I can see him sometimes, you know?" Yohko gave him a quizzical look so he went on. "Every now and then a small movie pops into my head and I see him. Like recently I saw him learning shaman stuff from our grandpa. Not a lot though, he doesn't pick this stuff up as easily as I do. Why is that?"

"Because you some of Hao's and the Great Spirit's power in you," Yohko said.

"Granny, why are you the only relative here watching over me?" Zeke said.

"The other two went back to the Great Spirit but I wanted to make sure that you grew up knowing everything."

"Is it okay for spirits to mess with things like that?"

She smiled at her little descendent. "What would be the point in seeing and talking to me if not to learn from me?" Zeke smiled and stood up, then decided to play tag with the ghost children.

Over the next two years not too much changed. Zeke, now six, had already started primary school. Classes were easy and he passed them effortlessly; he was far more advanced than the other students, as he was friends with the spirits of several teachers. Yohko stayed with him for another year, teaching him shaman basics such as summoning the spirits of leaves, meditating, and integrating with spirits.

"You'll have to learn on your own from now on. There's only so much, as a spirit, that I can teach you," she told him on his fifth birthday. There were tears and a party in the cemetery and then, smiling, Zeke watched as she crossed over to the Great Spirit. Even though he was saddened by her departure, he understood why she had to leave. He wished that he could help all the spirits cross over.

As the next year went by Zeke began going to the public library. He would borrow books on the supernatural and read them at the cemetery; practicing their ways with the spirits haunting the graveyard. He was growing smarter and stronger spiritually, but physically he was only six and he was still being bullied by Samuel and his friends.

He still didn't fight back. He knew he was too small against an eleven-year-old, but he was getting better at dodging and running away. Samuel threw an arm around Zeke's middle as Zeke tried to escape. Then, after lifting Zeke into the air Samuel shoved him back onto the ground. Zeke's head hit the cement with a loud CLUNCK.

"Samuel Jonathan Shai, what on earth are you doing to that poor boy?" A woman said, storming her way from a nearby car and up towards the two boys.

"M-mom!" Samuel said; his voice and face filled with pure terror. Samuel obviously took after his mother. They had the same pale completion, the same dusty black hair, and they were both tall and lanky, though Zeke knew Samuel would grow out of his lankiness as he grew older. Mrs. Shai grabbed hold of the back of Samuel's shirt and hoisted him off of Zeke. Apparently he had been so shocked that his mother was there that he didn't think to get off of Zeke himself.

"You've got two seconds Samuel," his mother said, her voice making both Samuel and Zeke quiver. As Samuel stumbled around his words Zeke noticed a boy getting out of the car and walking over to them as well. The boy was obviously Samuel's older brother. He appeared to be about fifteen and he was already taller and lankier then his mom, his hair was also dustier.

"_Maybe Sam dyes his hair black?"_ Zeke thought to himself humorously.

"Mother, you're making a scene," the boy said. "I don't think you want these passer-byes to get the wrong idea."

Mrs. Shai sighed. "You're right Martin." She looked at Zeke. "Why don't you come with us, I'll give you a ride home."

"Sure, that'd be great," Zeke said. Yohko and the books that he borrowed from the library were always telling him about trusting people and being kind and genuine to everyone. They taught him how to read auras and what a different colored aura could mean. He was always readily guarded when around Samuel because Samuels aura burned like fire around his body; the red and orange showing off his clear frustration of the world and his reasons for lashing out. Like all fires though, there were traces of blue and yellow within his energy so Zeke suspected that as Samuel grew older he'd be able to tame his spirit.

Martin's energy was a grey-green color and Zeke decided to keep his guard up around him as well, knowing that Martin was self-sacrificing and disbelieving in Zeke's ways automatically. He was someone who needed pure facts to believe something. His mother though, shined with a bright red-pink energy. She was a mass of pure love and Zeke easily trusted her.

Mrs. Shai ushered the kids back into her car.

"Where do you live?" She said kindly to Zeke as he buckled up into the back seat of her car.

"The Patch City Orphanage," He said back, a smile on his face. He liked talking to her. His smile faded as her expression dropped. He had made her uncomfortable by mentioning he was an orphan. Mrs. Shai was glaring at Samuel and Zeke knew she couldn't believe that her son would bully an orphan. None of them knew that he actually had a family living in Japan though, so technically he wasn't really an orphan. Did it matter if he was an orphan though? He didn't want to be different just because he currently didn't have parents.

They arrived to the orphanage in mere minutes and Mrs. Shai escorted Zeke into the quaint, rundown building. Miss Maria was in her office making schedules on her computer when Mrs. Shai ushered Zeke into the room.

"Oh!" Miss Maria said, jumping from their sudden appearance. "What can I help you with dear?" She didn't bother asking if Zeke had done something to upset her; he had never been in trouble for anything.

"Not at all miss," Mrs. Shai said. "As you know I've been looking into adopting for awhile now. My husband and I have filled out forms and gone through assessment tests, passing every exam with flying colors. The only thing left is a child to adopt."

"And you'd like to adopt our little Zeke?" Miss Maria asked. A smile was growing on her face. She would miss Zeke, having raised him since he was a baby, but she was happy he was getting a family. Miss Maria never understood why Zeke hadn't been adopted yet. He was polite, well mannered, highly intelligent, and very friendly.

Mrs. Shai frowned slightly. "To be honest, I don't want to adopt him just yet." She gave Zeke an apologetic look. "What I would like to do is go through a trial run and watch him for a couple of months. We live right in town so his class schedule wouldn't have to change or anything. I just want to make sure that he will fit in well with the rest of my family."

Miss Maria beamed. "That's not a problem. We actually encourage this so that the kids don't get stuck in any horrible circumstances because a parent might begin feeling like the child is a burden. Would you like to take him today?" Mrs. Shai nodded her head yes and Miss Maria turned to Zeke. "Go pack your things then dear."

Zeke whooped and sped off to his room while Miss Maria pulled paperwork out of her desk for Mrs. Shai to fill out. It was October twentieth and as Zeke bundled up his clothes into his backpack he wondered what staying with a family would be like. What dinners would feel like, would he have his own room, cooking with a new mom, were they going to take him trick-or-treating on Halloween? He pilled some rocks into a pouch on his bag and then dug into his back pocket for a leaf. It was crumpled from when Samuel shoved him to the ground. As he placed it in the pouch a leaf-spirit flew out of it.

"Why don't you ever fight that Samuel kid?" The spirit asked.

"Because he's way to big Leafy, I'll fight once I'm bigger," Zeke said. He called all of the leaf-spirits Leafy. He also called all of the rock-spirits Rocky. He wasn't creative when it came to naming things.

"You could always send us on him," another leaf-spirit said, sneaking out of his backpack.

"Yohko always taught me that I shouldn't fight unless absolutely necessary, and Samuel doesn't try to kill me, he just punches me a little and then leaves."

A rock-spirit came out to join the conversation. "It'd be nice to know why he attacks you though."

"He pretends that I'm his older brother," Zeke said. "Every time he punches me I see and hear his older brother telling him off for not trying hard enough in school or his dad is telling him he's a disappointment. Mrs. Shai doesn't mean to but when she talks happily about Martin it causes Samuel to be jealous and that's another reason too." He and his spirits had reached Miss Maria's office.

"Who were you talking to?" Mrs. Shai said. She had finished filling out the paperwork and was waiting patiently for Zeke at the front door.

"Just talking to my spirit friends," Zeke said.

"Oh? You have some imaginary friends then?" Mrs. Shai asked the six year old at her side. She opened the door for him to go through.

"Silly! They aren't imaginary, they're real!" Zeke said playfully. He knew she didn't believe him but adults didn't mind him having these so-called _imaginary_ friends. It was only when they found out that he liked to hang out and play in the cemetery that they distanced themselves from him.

"What's he doing here?" Samuel said angrily as Zeke climbed back into the car.

"He's going to stay with us for a couple of months," Mrs. Shai said. "And I don't want to hear another word out of you young man, you're grounded." Zeke giggled and Samuel shoved him but Mrs. Shai didn't say anything. Interactions like that were expected from brothers and she didn't want Samuel to think she was playing favorites with Zeke. Zeke understood that too and proceeded to smile dumbly as he looked out his door's window.

After arriving at the house Mrs. Shai gave Zeke a brief tour and explained the house rules. This house had four rooms: a master bedroom for Mr. and Mrs. Shai, two rooms for their sons, and then one room for guests. He would be staying in the guest room but if the family decided to adopt him then he would share a room with Samuel so that the guest room was still available for… well… guests. Everyone was expected to wake-up on time every day, no hitting the 'snooze' alarm, and they were only allowed to sleep in a max of two hours on the weekends.

Homework was to be finished right after school before any activities could take place. Clothes were to be worn properly, manners were to be had when out, at the dinner table, or when guests were over. No skipping classes. No profanity. Everything seemed pretty standard and Zeke was sure he'd do well with the family. His favorite part, and he was shocked because he didn't realize beforehand, was that the family had a pet dog.

The dog was a beautiful Belgian Shepherd named Fang. "Samuel named him," Mrs. Shai explained. They warned Zeke before introducing him to Fang that the dog was slightly reproachful towards strangers. "That's alright, animals love me," Zeke said. Sure enough, Fang took to Zeke quickly. He was taught that there were strict rules for Fang. No giving an undeserved treat, no feeding him human food and he had to be walked twice a day.

Upon Mrs. Shai's orders, Martin escorted Zeke to the guest room so he could put his things away, Samuel following behind them and then heading to his own room. The room was filled with Victorian décor. It had a queen sized bed, a dresser, an amour, a small table with a chair, and a beautifully designed lamp.

"I'm sorry about the way my brother's been treating you," Martin said.

"It's alright," Zeke said, placing his backpack on the bed and removing his clothes from it.

"No, it's not, that kid has problems," Martin watched as Zeke grabbed the rocks and leaf from inside his backpack.

A queasy feeling wrapped in anger, sadness, and betrayal swelled up inside Zeke. _"Samuel is listening…" _He brought the rocks and the leaf to the Victorian style dresser and set them atop it. "Well, he's just a kid. He might grow out of it." The queasy feeling slowly drained out of Zeke.

Martin looked at him curiously, interested in how a six-year-old could be so mature.

Mr. Shai was shocked to see Zeke but was nevertheless happy to have him. He was upset with Samuel after learning about the bullying and sent him to his bedroom to eat his dinner alone. Shortly after dinner the Shai's sent Zeke to bed since tomorrow would be Monday and he had school. As Zeke walked down the hall to the guest room he passed Samuel coming out of the bathroom. He nearly expected a confrontation to occur but nothing happened. Samuel just grunted at him and kept going.

Monday came around and Mrs. Shai attempted to awaken Zeke for breakfast, stunned to find Zeke awake and meditating on his bed. He greeted her pleasantly and was happy to eat breakfast with the Shai family.

Zeke found himself easily easing his way into the Shai family way of life. He was taken aback when Mrs. Shai dropped him off at school and he realized that he went to the same school as Samuel. Because of their age difference they never saw each other in the hallways and ate lunch at different times so really nothing changed. After school, Zeke surprised his temporary family yet again by having his homework completely done, and continuing to do so during his several weeks there; they assumed it was because homework for a first grader was highly simple.

Martin would leave for his part-time job shortly after school, leaving Samuel and Zeke to go home where Samuel was left to grumble about his homework while Zeke played with Fang, meditated, and talked with the earth-type spirits that resided in the backyard. After Samuel had completed his work he would leave to play with his friends; Zeke stayed beside Mrs. Shai and helped her cook dinner. By the end of the night, Mr. Shai, Samuel, and Martin would come home and they would all eat dinner together and talk about their day. Zeke was molding in with them flawlessly and, besides Samuel, they were growing to love the young boy.

October thirty-first came faster than Zeke thought and soon he was being asked what he wanted to be when the family went trick-or-treating.

"Oh man, mom, I don't want to go trick-or-treating," Samuel said as his mother pulled up to the school. "That's for little kids."

"Well what about Zeke?" She said as she looked back at the boys sitting in the backseat.

"Honestly, I don't want to go trick-or-treating necessarily," Zeke said.

"Necessarily?" Samuel said, wondering what he _necessarily_ wanted to do; Mrs. Shai gaped at Zeke's use of such a big word.

"While candy is nice and all I'm just curious to watch the other kids as _they_ go trick-or-treating, that and I wouldn't mind going to the graveyard, I haven't been there in a while," Zeke said.

"Oh, okay, well then Samuel can take you out after school then," Mrs. Shai said, smiling.

"But—," Samuel started to say but stopped when Mrs. Shai glared at him. Zeke and Samuel left the car and headed into the school. There was no time for Samuel to berate Zeke, the school bell chiming for class to start, sending the boys in a mad dash for their first classes.

After school the schedule went on as usual until seven o'clock came around. Mrs. Shai gave them a bag full of sandwiches and a couple of juice boxes and then sent them on their way. Before leaving, Samuel ran up to his room and then came back down with a white sheet. He threw the sheet over Zeke's head.

"There, now no one will know who's with me," he said.

Mrs. Shai chuckled and cut two holes for Zeke to see through. "Sammy, you're so silly," she said.

They walked down the street and Zeke watched the kids, and their parents, running from housed to house, dressed as witches and princesses, prisoners and cowboys. The children didn't look scary and the ordeal seemed relatively normal, but with no spirituality. Zeke frowned through his sheet and almost thought that Samuel could tell he was upset.

"Not what you were expecting?" Samuel asked.

"No…" Zeke replied. "I'd like to go to the graveyard now."

Samuel threw his hands behind his head and began walking towards the cemetery. "Whatever. At least I won't run into my friends there." Zeke sulked more, knowing that Samuel was embarrassed to be seen with him, but he focused on the chance to see all of his friends at the cemetery again

The cemetery was filled with ghosts galore. Spirits that normally spent their time sleeping in their graves were floating around with the other spirits that haunted the graveyard. Animal spirits chased one another around the tombstones and ghouls loomed about in the shadows, their yellow eyes glowing ominously at the other spirits. Seeing his old friends wafting around the ground cheered any gloom that Zeke was feeling. A smile spread on his small face. He pulled his sheet off and he ran deep into the cemetery.

"Hi One-Eyed Jimmy! Hey there Sally-Sue!" He said as he dashed past acquaintances and friends. "Hello Maggie!" He ran deeper and deeper until he came to the heart of the graveyard, Samuel following behind him awkwardly.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Samuel asked as he sat on a bench, the sheet in a bundle under his arm, and watched Zeke roll around on the moist grass.

"Just my friends, Sammy!" Zeke said, laughing wildly as he played with a ghost child.

"Don't call me Sammy or I'll beat the stuffing out of you!" Samuel said. "And what friends are you even talking about?"

Zeke simmered down, "I mean my spirit friends…" Samuel was about to criticize Zeke for playing with _imaginary_ friends but stopped abruptly; Zeke had gone into a sort of trance, sitting on the ground with glazed-over eyes, staring at nothing.

"Zeke?" He said. Zeke's head fell forward and then popped back up as he came out of his trance. He looked back at Samuel sheepishly.

"Sorry, I was having a vision."

"Of what?" Samuel said skeptically.

"Oh, my twin brother, Yoh," Zeke said. Samuel continued to stare at him unsurely so Zeke continued. "He lives in Japan and he's sleeping right now. Really it was just a short image of him passed out against a tree, not a whole lot else. Sometimes I have a vision of him and sometimes it's a vision of Hao. They both seem like they don't know I exist though."

"Yea right, like you have a twin brother in Japan. I know you look Japanese but if anything you're just an Asian-American whose parents either died or left him on the stoop of that stupid orphanage."

Zeke stood up and tears started falling down his face. "My parents are alive and in Japan! Sorry that they don't know about me!" He gasped for air a few times while Samuel stared at him. "…I want to go home now."

Samuel stood up and walked to Zeke, grabbing his arm roughly and pulling him towards the cemetery entrance. Once they had left, Samuel let go of Zeke's arm and pulled a juice box out of the paper bag and threw it at Zeke.

"Drink that and stop crying or else my mom's going to yell at me again," Samuel said. Zeke sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand while he sucked up his juice.

When they arrived home Zeke told Mr. and Mrs. Shai that he had grown tired from playing in the cemetery and wanted to go to bed early. Samuel followed him upstairs and headed for his own room. He was shocked to see a side of Zeke that cried, so used to Zeke always talking about his imaginary friends and being far smarter than general six-year-olds.

Weeks continued on and things went back to how they had been, Zeke waking up the day after Halloween as his usual self and continuing to be chipper for the days to come. Soon Thanksgiving was coming up and Zeke was looking forward to a family feast.

"So, Mrs. Shai, are all your relatives going to come to Thanksgiving?" Zeke asked while Mrs. Shai was dropping him and Samuel off at school.

"Sweety, ask me once you get home, Mama's in a rush this morning," Mrs. Shai said, a friendly smile on her face; she had begun to make it a habit of referring to herself and her husband as Mama and Daddy whenever she was talking to Zeke. Zeke nodded his head and followed Samuel out of the car.

"Hey Sammy!" Zeke said, calling out to Samuel who was rushing to get into the school and away from Zeke. "Sammy!" Zeke chased after him, hoping he would stop. As Mrs. Shai drove away from the parking lot, Samuel turned on his heel and punched Zeke on his forehead.

"Stop calling me Sammy," he said, his voice raised and his eyes narrowed. Zeke looked up to him from his new spot on the ground.

"I just wanted to know if your relatives are coming home for Thanksgiving," Zeke said. He stood up and dusted off his back and school bag.

"They live too far away and we aren't really close with any of them," Samuel said nonchalantly.

"Oh…" Zeke said.

Samuel sighed, "Doesn't matter to me."

"Is it at least going to be fun?"

"Well duh; it's Thanksgiving. It's not as good as Christmas but there's a lot of good food," Samuel said. Zeke smiled and headed for his class while Samuel went to find his friends.

Just a few more days passed and the school was on break for the holidays. Zeke made it a habit of going to the cemetery or playing in the backyard all day; Fang never leaving his side. Martin would leave for the library to study or worked at his part time job; occasionally going out at night to hang out with friends as well. Samuel brooded over the first few days because Mrs. Shai forbade any fun to be had until all the holiday homework was finished, but with Martin's help Samuel had gotten it done quickly. He spent the majority of his vacation with his little gang of friends, terrorizing Zeke or finding ways to vandalize buildings or cause other forms of mischief.

At long last Thanksgiving Day arrived. Zeke awoke to the smell of a cooking turkey. He headed downstairs and found the table decorated with a crème-colored tablecloth and five Thanksgiving-themed sets of plates, saucers, goblets, and silverware.

For once the family didn't disperse during the day. Mrs. Shai stayed in the kitchen making the turkey dinner and the three boys stayed with Mr. Shai in the family room, playing bored games, watching football, and having conversation. After hours of relaxing, Mrs. Shai announced dinner and together they all ate the feast.

"Why don't we take the time to acknowledge what we're thankful for," Mr. Shai said before digging into a turkey leg. "Martin, you're the oldest, why don't you start."

Martin stared at the ceiling perplexed for a minute. "I'm thankful for having decent teachers for a change," he said nonchalantly. He looked to Samuel to continue.

"The only thing I'm thankful for is moms cooking," Samuel said as he shoved a large spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

It was Zeke's turn. "I'm thankful for the chance to experience all these holidays with a real family," he said.

"And we're thankful to experience this time with you too," Mr. Shai said, a smile on his face.

"So thankful in fact, that we were hoping you would become a permanent edition," Mrs. Shai said.

Zeke stood on his chair in excitement, his hands landing flatly on the table. "Are you serious? Really?" He had figured it would come to this with the way Mrs. Shai would call herself mom and everything but he didn't want to work himself up over nothing.

Mrs. Shai continued. "We've already discussed it with the boys and they agreed to take you in." Zeke stared at Samuel sitting to his right. He focused intently on Samuel, trying to see past the images and feelings in his head until thoughts began to form. Samuel had grown used to Zeke's presence. Even though he was annoyed by him he was willing to put up with him.

"Why are you staring at me you creep?" Samuel yelled.

"Just trying to figure out if you really agreed to let me into the family," Zeke said, sitting back down in his seat and continuing to eat what little was left of his food. Mr. Shai had begun discussing Martin's studies and Mrs. Shai excused herself to get dessert. "I got my reason."

Samuel looked at him angrily. "Quit reading my mind. You don't have my permission to be in there. If you have a question then ask me because the next time I find out you've been reading my mind—," he leaned in close to Zeke and whispered the rest, "…I'll make sure you regret it."

Zeke began to see very violent images of what Samuel would do, but he forced the thoughts out his head. "I-I haven't tried to control it like that yet, but I'll teach myself so that I don't invade your privacy." He gulped. "Forgive me for any time I see your thoughts in the near future while I get a handle on the ability."

"Fine," Samuel said. "Then you better tell me each time you've seen my thoughts so that I can trust you." Zeke nodded his head. He was going to say more but Mrs. Shai was coming back in with pecan pie and pumpkin ice-cream.

The family finished their meal and then everyone went to sleep early, the turkey making them very sleepy. As it had turned out, the Shai's brought the subject of adoption up during Thanksgiving in hopes of having the paperwork filled out by Christmas. As the days went by Zeke had found himself in Samuels clutches; it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be though.

One morning Zeke had been playing with Fang when Samuel strolled over to him and said the two of them ("and the dog I guess") would be going out. They headed to a rundown park, with rusty swings, lopsided slides, and terribly brown grass, where Samuel's friends were hanging out.

"What are we doing here?" Zeke asked.

"That big guy, the fourteen-year-old over there, he's in charge of the group," Samuel mumbled as they walked to the group. "You can analyze the rest." Zeke took the initiative and delved into Samuel's mind. He didn't have the greatest handle on his power but even just trying to control his it was strengthening the ability, if only a little.

Samuel's thoughts raced across Zeke's mind as they drew closer to the group of kids. _"You're going to read that bastards mind and then you're going to scare him. He hates paranormal shit. If he tries to hurt you I'll take care of him." _And then Samuel cracked his knuckles.

"Why'd you bring that freaky kid with you?" A goon who was the same age as Samuel asked.

"We're adopting him and my mom wanted us to hangout or whatever," Samuel said.

"And why did you think I'd let you bring a runt like that over?" The fourteen-year-old asked.

"Better watch what you say about my little brother, Randall," Samuel said. "He's got creepy powers and stuff." Randall began laughing obnoxiously; making a show of how much of a fool he felt Samuel was. Zeke looked to Samuel, who nodded, and then began walking slowly towards Randall, opening up his mind.

"You're bulimic," Zeke began. He was being flooded with image after image of Randall's home life and secrets. Everyone in the group had stopped laughing and was staring horridly at Zeke; even Samuel's mouth had dropped an inch in surprise. No one had known that about Randall. Randall stood transfixed, looking at Zeke with utter confusion, his mind trying to keep himself sane.

"You're wondering how I know…" Zeke continued, "Since you only force yourself to throw up while you're home alone, after your family has left you to fend for yourself and have gone off to luxurious restaurants or to the movies. You refuse their offer to accompany them because you're scared that they really think you're too dumb, immature, and unmannerly to go with them. You—"

"Shut up!" Randall said. He was sweating, his eyes were beady, and a vein was throbbing at his temple. "What are you playing at?" He said, looking to Samuel for answers.

"This is my gang now," Samuel said, a sinister smirk was going over his face.

"You really think that I'm going to hand over the gang to an eleven-year-old?" Randall asked. He charged Samuel with a look that could kill.

"No!" Zeke yelled. He raced in between Samuel and Randall, placed his hands beside his back pockets. "Summoning!" From his back pockets sprang two spirits, one of leaf and one of rock. They were balled up in the palms of his hands, which were now moving fluidly around to the front of his body. "Partial _INTERGRATION!" _He flung the spirits into his chest and then brought his arms into a defensive position in front of his chest and head as Randall punched into him.

"Ouch! Damn-it!" Randall said, gripping his fist. Despite Zeke being six, Randall had barely moved him half an inch. He was grounded in place like a rock. As Randall came at him again Zeke, reading Randall's mind, swept to the side of him fluidly like a leaf in the wind. He kicked Randall's shin with his rock-hard body, and then flittered underneath Randall as the older boy began to double over, gripping his leg. Zeke punched Randall's face, sending him backwards onto the ground.

After a minute, Randall shakily stood up and then retreated away from the group with unhidden fear of Zeke; the other _older_ members of the gang following close behind. What was left of the group gaped at Zeke in shock.

"Was that alright, Sammy?" Zeke asked sheepishly. He felt a little guilty for reading Randall's mind and spilling his secrets to everyone, but the guilt had been short lived when Randall had lunged at Samuel. Unlike Samuel, who only ever wanted to beat Zeke up a little, Randall was hoping to kill. That was the only reason that Zeke had decided to partially integrate with the spirits occupying the leaf and rock he had in his back pockets.

Samuel walked over to and backhanded Zeke across the face, sending the boy to the ground. "What did I tell you about calling me that? _(Are you reading my mind? Nod if you are.)"_

Zeke nodded and then bit his lip. "What right do you have to say that I can't call you that?" He said angrily. "I'm your brother now."

Samuel snorted. "Get up and go home, I'm done with you now. _(You better explain to me what the hell that 'Partial INTEGRATION' was when I get back.)_" Zeke nodded again and took off running back to the house.

Mrs. Shai was gone from the house, having left to run errands, so Zeke was left alone to play with Fang. After half an hour of catch Zeke decided to meditate for awhile; he was feeling divided about his confrontation with Randall. His mind raced and images of Yoh began to flood his mind's eye. Yoh was being chewed-out, by whom Zeke assumed was their grandpa, for not concentrating while summoning spirits from leaves. "But I already know how to do this," Yoh whined. Before Zeke could watch more another image was flooding into his head, this time of Hao.

He watched as a boy, who looked more like him than his own twin brother, confronted a man and woman, demanding that they join him. The man and woman refused and Hao created a fire within their house that began to consume them and everything around them. Zeke watched as a door opened and a small boy with green hair and a pink fairy burst into the room and tried to attack Hao. Hao began laughing and Zeke scrunched up his face and forced himself out of the trance.

He wheezed and then gasped for air. _'What was that just now?'_ he thought as he clutched the part of his shirt that hung right above his heart. As he got a hold of himself he stood up and then felt a warm trickle run over his lips and down his chin. He wiped the back of his hand across his chin and looked. Blood. He fell back to the ground and scrambled backwards, as if trying to get away from the site as well as the few drops that had landed on the ground in front him. _'I never get a nose bleed when I have a vision…'_

Again he stood, only this time he ran back to the house, Fang barking uncertainly behind him. Through the sliding glass door, through the kitchen, up the stairs, down the hall, and into his room, Zeke raced for his collection of library books and pulled one out titled _Know Your Psychic Abilities._ He skimmed through the index until he found an article on visions. Quickly he flipped the pages of his book, coming to the corresponding page. Zeke jumped from heading to heading looking for something that would jump at him. _Seeing the FUTURE. _Zeke's finger trembled as it outlined the words.

Those who are able to see into the future generally enter a trance. Side-effects of seeing the future can include: Clamminess, Hot-flashes, Tremors or Seizures, Headaches or Migraines, and the Expulsion of Blood through the Nose.

"Well, I only have one side-effect… but it felt differently than any other vision I had… I must have seen the future," Zeke said quietly to himself. He slammed the book shut and curled into a ball. "Why, Hao, why would you kill that man?"

Zeke shut himself in his room for the rest of the night and refused to come down for dinner.

Some hours into the night, Zeke was awoken by the sound of his door creaking open. He sat up and watched Samuel enter his room, walk to his bed, and sit on the edge.

"Why didn't you come to dinner?" Samuel said.

Zeke looked down at his hands holding onto his comforter. "I… saw the future." Zeke could see the dark outline of Samuel's face turn mildly confused. "It was my ancestor, Hao, he was burning a family to death."

"How can you see your ancestor in the future?" Samuel said.

"That's rather complicated to explain. He… uh… reincarnated, kinda?" Zeke tried to explain. "I'm not too sure but I really don't want to talk more about that."

"Fine. Then explain what happened earlier."

Zeke took a deep breath. "That's relatively simple. To me, at least, every living thing, or anything connected to nature, has a spirit. I simply summoned the spirits of a rock and leaf that I had in my back pockets and merged my soul and body with them. Their attributes contributed to my abilities and that's that."

"That's supposed to be simple?" Samuel said.

"If you can't understand something like that then go and open a book or something. My head hurts and I'm really upset that in a year's time Hao is going to kill two innocent people and there's nothing I can do about it."

Samuel stood and began heading back to the hallway. "My advice. If there's nothing you can do then get over it. It's out of your hands. Either stop him or suck it up." He left the room, slamming the door.

More time passed and soon they were a few weeks into December. Zeke was trying to take Samuels advice but it seemed the happier he was trying to be then the more futuristic visions of Hao he was having. He was growing broody as he saw death after death coming up. The visions didn't last long, just mere seconds, and most of them were the same deaths over and over. Zeke was starting to assume that he was seeing the nearest of futures.

Samuel decided to leave Zeke alone since he seemed greatly out of it and was acting less like a happy little boy and more like an empty shell. The rest of the family assumed that Zeke was just experiencing a lot of different emotions and didn't understand how to handle it because soon he would legally be a member of their family. They at least had the different emotions part right.

The night of Christmas Eve, the family was sitting down for dinner when Mr. Shai brought up Zeke's birthday.

"So the orphanage told us, while we were finalizing the paperwork, that they pegged your birthday on May twelfth, because you're so interested in this spirit stuff your mother and I thought it would be a fun idea to take the family to our local Indian Resort," Mr. Shai said. Zeke looked at him curiously. The young boy's eyes were horribly dark and his skin had grown sallow from the lack of sleep.

"Do natives normally let people onto their resorts like that?" Martin asked.

"I'm not sure dear, but this particular tribe loves tourists. They're always setting shops up around the town and in Main Street and whenever I walk buy they're telling me and the other passerby to stop by their resort for a whole tour of their culture," Mrs. Shai answered.

"I'm sure there's a small fee of course, but they seem very spiritual and I think it'll be right up Zeke's alley," Mr. Shai said, continuing from where Mrs. Shai left off.

"What tribe are they?" Samuel asked. Zeke was listening intensely. If his family were going to take him to a tribe of _very spiritual_ Native Americans then maybe someone there would be able to teach him how to control his visions.

"The Patch," Mrs. Shai said. "What other tribe would it be? We are in Patch City."

Samuel chuckled sheepishly. "I guess I never put the two together."

"That's because you don't pay attention in History class," Martin said.

"So what do you say, Zeke?" Mr. Shai asked.

Zeke was beyond himself with excitement. For once he was in the same boat as Samuel. He hadn't put the two together either, but now that he thought about it he realized that the Patch Tribe lived right next to the Great Spirit. They'd definitely be able to help him. He only had to wait five more months and then his problems would be solved. These visions weren't going to haunt him for the rest of his life like he feared they would.

"I'd love to go!" He said, looking slightly healthier, with color filling his face.

The next day he woke up early and headed downstairs, deciding not to meditate for once. It had been the first time in the last several days that Zeke had actually had a decent night's sleep. He came to the tree that the family had positioned in the family room and found Samuel kneeling beside it, shaking boxes.

"Morning Sammy," Zeke said, looking at the pile of present for himself.

Samuel grunted as he pressed a particularly heavy box to his ear and shook it, frantically trying to figure out what was inside. He gave up and watched Zeke pick up a skinny, but hard package. "You seem to be in a better mood." Zeke nodded enthusiastically as Martin made his way into the family room as well.

"Ooh, why don't you open that one," Mrs. Shai said. She and Mr. Shai were standing in the doorway, watching as their youngest boys observed the un-opened presents; Martin sitting on the couch maturely.

Zeke smiled and delicately peeled the taped wrapping sides away from one another until he had uncovered a framed piece of paper. He took a second to read over it. It was an officiated adoption form with his name on it and Mr. Shai's and Mrs. Shai's signatures at the bottom. He looked over to them.

"Welcome to the family Zeke Shai," they both said.

A grin bigger than any other he had ever had spread across his face. "It's good to be here."

**xxx**

**AN: If anyone finds an error or something feel free to let me know... I'm not in the mood to reread this atm.  
**


	3. Stuck to the Pain

******Disclaimer: I don't own any of this and I'm not trying to sell any of it**

**AN: I don't understand why I'm writing these chapters so long! Still, it's not nearly as long as the last chapter lol.  
**

**xxx**

**Chapter 3: Stuck to the Pain**

"We're almost there," Mr. Shai said. Mr. and Mrs. Shai and their kids had piled into the family minivan and were heading to their local _Indian _reservation, home to the Patch Tribe. It was May ninth and, even though it was a few days early, Mr. and Mrs. Shai were treating their youngest son, Zeke, for his seventh birthday. At least three-fifths of the family was excited for the trip; the only problem was that Zeke wasn't one of those three. Well… His parents couldn't really tell if he was.

Mr. Shai sat in the driver's seat, kindly being guided by his loving wife, who sat beside him, reading a map. The journey wasn't far but it was on off roads so they decided it would be best to bring a map. The two of them held reasonable conversation with their oldest son, Martin, who was sitting in the middle of the van, and was asking various questions about the Patch people. Not too much was known about them and all Mrs. Shai had ever been able to deduce was that they loved selling various hand-crafted artifacts to tourists.

The younger boys sat in the far back of the minivan on the cruddy folding seats. Samuel was hoping he would be left alone if he sat in the way back, but, as had been the case for the past several months, Zeke followed him. The irritable boy, now twelve, sat with his elbow propped along the bottom of the window, his chin resting on a fisted hand as he stared out at the lackluster scenery and listened to his walkman.

Zeke looked incredibly unhealthy for a young boy who was just turning seven. His skin was pallid, his eyes were laden by heavy sacs from a lack of sleep, and he was incredibly skinny. He was often plagued by recurring visions of the future; visions of death and murder. The only one in his family who knew was Samuel, and Samuel had advised Zeke to push the visions out of his head and try to forget about them. The advice had worked for a while, but then Zeke began seeing one vision over and over. A vision haunted him so much it plagued him into the night, causing horrendous nightmares, and leading him to seek sanctuary in Samuel's bed; cuddling close to his older brother in hopes that just being near him would make the nightmares go away. It never worked but Zeke felt better as Samuel silently comforted him in the night; they shared a room now so going to Samuel was easier than running to his parent's room. Plus, he was positive his parents wouldn't understand what was troubling him.

Zeke hadn't told Samuel what his recent vision was. It was too terrible and he wasn't sure how Samuel would react, but at least Samuel was aware that it had something to do with death. Despite the fact that Zeke annoyed Samuel, he sought Samuel for salvation. In between school and spending his free time with Samuel, Zeke's mind was generally kept busy so he wasn't completely overwhelmed by the visions, but Samuel worked Zeke like a dog, making Zeke help him set up the gang Samuel was forming, so Zeke was always exhausted. And being kept up all night didn't help his case. Finally though, if only for the short few minutes of a car ride, Zeke was able to nap and rest, his head laying on one of Samuel's legs while he stretched his small body along the back seat.

His parents couldn't tell, but Zeke was very excited for the trip to the Patch. He was hoping that, because the Patch were spiritualists, they would be able to him with his visions.

Mrs. Shai looked over her shoulder for a second, checking on the quietest occupants of their minivan. A smirk formed as she turned back to watch the road. Before the family had adopted Zeke, Samuel used to beat him up and terrorize him. _"But now look at the two of them," _She thought. _"They're real brothers now."_

As one side of the cassette Samuel was listening to finished, the minivan pulled up to toll-stand that was blocking the minivans way into the reservation; a long striped road arm keeping them from passing.

"Hello there," a man said from within the toll-stand as they pulled up to it. His hair was long and black and he was wearing a leather vest. A red tattoo covered his shoulder. "Care to learn a bit of our culture today?"

"Yes please," Mr. Shai said.

"Great," the man said. "Of course there will be a small fee."

"Of course," Mr. Shai said, sighing a little.

The man smiled at him and began running the price. "Three adults… Two kids… You know you are lucky. Today out chief, Goldva, is here. She's generally away for long periods of time for various reasons. Maybe this is a sign from the Great Spirit. You're family must be here on today for a specific reason… That'll be sixty-five dollars."

Zeke's eyes were wide and awake. _"The Great Spirit."_ He sat up quickly and stared at the long-haired man, opening up his mind.

"I'm not sure of all that destiny stuff," Mr. Shai said as he, hesitantly, handed the man his money. "We're just here for my sons seventh birthday. He's really into this kind of thing."

The man raised the road arm and nodded to the group to go through. As the family drove onto the reservation the man caught a glimpse of Zeke and stared as long as he could, terror on his face.

"I wonder what that man's name was," Martin said offhand.

"It was Alnum," Zeke said. Mrs. Shai and Martin turned back to look at Zeke; Mr. Shai was parking.

"How'd you know that?" Samuel said.

"Uh…" Zeke started to say but then Samuel cut in.

"It was on his name tag. Didn't you notice?"

"Oh. Guess not," Martin said. Samuel and Zeke sighed in relief and then the family began to get out of the vehicle.

As they walked curiously around the parking lot they found a sign with instructions: **Follow the path and it will lead you to a higher level.** With that being read, they began walking down a skinny dirt trail that had been paved through a field of tall grass. They could see a forest in the distance and wondered if that's where the enclave was, but as they entered the forest the path didn't give any sign to ending anytime soon, so onwards they journeyed, for what seemed like almost an hour.

The path had begun to steep upwards and the walk was tiring, as they came to the end of the path, and the edge of the forest, they found themselves in front of a small community of tepees, some smaller, some large, and one massive one. All of them were decorated with riveting yet simple patters, except for the massive tepee that was held far more complicated designs.

"Wait…" Samuel said suddenly; disbelief in his voice. "I'm sorry, but really, this is it? We climbed all that way for this? No wonder that sign said _higher level_, it's a fraud."

"Turn around Sammy," Zeke mumbled. Samuel turned around, the other members of the family following suit. Their eyes widened. Their jaws fell an inch or two. Behind them they could see the tops of the trees from the forest they had just walked through. As if on cue, a flock of birds rose from the canopy and soared to the sky with breathtaking grace.

Zeke ignored what was behind him for in front of him, closer than before, was the towering mountain of blue fire-like energy known as the Great Spirit. Just looking at the large gathering of spirits seemed to rejuvenate him slightly.

He walked towards the village, heading for the Great Spirit, almost in trance.

"Zeke!" Samuel snapped. Zeke whipped around confused. He was already fifty feet from his family, standing in the center of Patch Village. They hurried towards him as the natives peeked from the tepees or quit their work and began walking over.

"You… You're," a young man, who appeared to be in his early twenties started to say. Like the other members of the tribe, his hair was long and black, only his was very straight and his long bangs flipped out in front of his face.

Zeke could sense who the man was suggesting Zeke was. "N-no… I'm not who you think I am."

An old woman parted the crowd of Patch members and walked steadily over to Zeke and his family. She stopped in front of the young boy and looked at him up and down, a scowl on her slightly wrinkled face.

"The Great Spirit has told me about you boy," the woman said.

"This is a bit much," Mrs. Shai said. She was frowning at the unusual attention her youngest was getting.

Sensing her hesitation to the situation, the old woman interrupted her thoughts. "Dear travelers! For having taken that hike I'm sure you'd like a tour of out village. Please, follow young Silva, here, he'll gladly show you around our humble home." She indicated the young man in his twenties.

"But—," Silva tried to say, but the woman's expression silenced him. "Alright then, this way please." Silva brought the small group to one side of the small village to begin the tour. "That was our chief, Goldva." He turned to Zeke. "You must not be who I thought you were, or else Chief Goldva wouldn't have acted as she had."

"I know," Zeke said.

"Really now, what is this nonsense?" Mrs. Shai asked angrily. "Saying that you thought you recognized my young son? He's seven. I hardly doubt the two of you could have known each other."

"My apologies ma'am, we are a spiritual group so I only mean what I say on a spiritual level," Silva tried to explain.

Mr. Shai calmed Mrs. Shai down with a few choice words and then Silva began the tour. Where they had started was a medicine circle, where members of the tribe sat to meditate and do spiritual self healing. It was a section dedicated to the eradication of negative emotions, demons, and curses. They also had specific ceremonies for the same type of reasons that involved more, sometimes, all the members of the tribe. The medicine circle was large and contained a pit for fire.

As Silva moved the tour along to some basic hands-on traditions, like weapon and artifact crafting, weaving, leatherwork and tailoring and the like, Samuel held Zeke back a few steps so he could question him.

"What the hell is going on between you and these natives?" Samuel said.

"They were thinking that I was my ancestor Hao, because I look just like him," Zeke said, trying to explain and hoping that Samuel understood what he was saying.

"Hao?" Samuel said. "That man in your visions who's murdering all those people?"

Zeke nodded his head. "He's not a man though. Well… Okay, spiritually he is, but right now he's in a body that's basically a replication of my own." He paused. "Wait… My body's the replication."

"Uh-huh… Okay." Samuel said. He didn't understand a whole lot of what Zeke said. "So he's murdering people at the ripe old age of seven?"

Zeke nodded his head again.

"This is a path that we use as a rite of passage. Members of our tribe walk down this seven day long trail, passing waterfalls, and entering a cave. They eat no food or water while on the journey, and when they arrive back at the village their powers are stronger," Silva said as he explained a trail that was leading away from the village. They had already finished looking at the hands-on area and were continuing the tour.

"You mean _if_ they come back to the village," Martin said sarcastically.

"Yes, you are right, there are many people who do not succeed on this short journey and give themselves back to nature," Silva explained.

"That's awful," Mrs. Shai said.

"Why would they come back with stronger powers?" Martin asked.

"It's from the idea that being thrown into a situation like that you have to train your mind to adjust to the lack of energy and water and as your body comes closer to death your psychic powers and spiritual sense awakens more. All those factors combined leads to a stronger mind and spirit," Zeke said, explaining before Silva could.

Martin scoffed. "Yeah, right, whatever."

The tour continued.

"This is where we meditate," Silva said, nodding to a secluded area with mats that were each positioned before a torch. "We light a torch and sit before it, and then we use the torch to help guide us into a restful and open state of mind."

They continued to the last section of the tour.

"Here we train our powers." Silva had led them to a side of the village that was split up into different sections. Some sections had tepees and the others were open and bare spaces. Each was used for different teachings. "We can train the little ones here to meditate, focus their energy, sense auras, the list goes on."

Mr. and Mrs. Shai and Martin looked skeptically at the training area. Samuel had pulled out his walkman back at the meditation area and had stopped paying attention. Zeke was excited about the whole ordeal.

"Mom! Dad!" Zeke said. "Can I try the training area out? Can I please?"

They frowned. Mr. and Mrs. Shai weren't the most spiritual of people, but this _was _the first time in several months that Zeke had looked so happy, and it _was _his birthday.

"Alright dear," Mrs. Shai said.

Zeke whooped and ran towards a random tepee.

"If you'd like, I can take you to our gift shop," Silva said. The family sighed at the concept of more money to be spent, but nonetheless allowed Silva to escort them to the gift shop.

"Chief Goldva," Zeke said in greeting as he entered the tepee. Goldva sat on a rug towards the back of the tepee. Zeke walked up to her and then sat in front of her.

"Zeke Asakura," Goldva said, also in greeting.

"My last name is Shai," Zeke mumbled. "I'm not part of that family."

"Don't kid yourself boy," Goldva said. "You're as much a part of them as they are of you; even if they aren't aware of your existence."

"How do you know all of that?" Zeke asked.

"I'm the chief of this tribe. I'm most connected to the Great Spirit then the other members, hence why I'm the chief. That's why I knew you weren't him."

"Hao Asakura."

Goldva lifted a large pipe off the ground and lit the contents in it. She inhaled deeply and then released the smoke so it could dance within the small room. "Yes, that's the one. So you know of him too then?"

"I'm well aware of how I came to be," Zeke said. "I'm also aware of the terrible crimes he plans to do."

"You must stay clear minded and un-judgmental if you wish to grow stronger," Goldva said. "While what he plans to do maybe horrible, the Great Spirit always has a reason for doing things. Our goal in life is to experience those things and learn from them. Find out why they've happened and If we can't determine a specific reason then it may be for the best that we learn to allow them to occur for ultimately they're out of our hands anyway."

"I'd rather change fate then sit back and watch it occur without any way of stopping it."

"Yes… Well, as I'm sure we would all like to be able to do that, you'll find that accepting that we can't change fate is the first step in becoming stronger, and then, once we become so strong that we think we could change it, we find ourselves not seeing a reason to actually do so."

Zeke watched as Goldva took another long drag from her pipe. "Is there really no person who would choose to change fate once they had acquired the power necessary to do so?"

"There is but one person who finds reason to change fate. This person, and it's not the same person every time, appears once every five-hundred years," Goldva explained. Zeke watched intensely, urging Goldva to go one. "Every five-hundred years a tournament is held. Shaman's from across the world battle one another. Though they are stronger spiritually, then most other shamans, they are still weak enough to assume they can change fate. As they battle, mind, will, and power against one another, the select group of shamans grow exponentially.

"Then, the heard thins. People become so strong that acceptance occurs in their hearts and they realize that there is no need to change fate. Many drop out of the tournament to go home. Then the rest fight and in the end is one glorious leader, so strong that he's earned the ability to become with the Great Spirit. That individual, the Shaman King, changes fate."

"I want to be the Shaman King!" Zeke said. Having the power to stop a murderer seemed amazing.

"Absolutely not," Goldva said. "I have other plans for you." Ideas flooded Goldva's mind and Zeke read every one of them.

"I see," Zeke said. "As long as you promise to help stop these visions I've been having then I'll go along with your plan."

Goldva smiled and stood up. She and Zeke left the tepee and headed for the gift center.

"Mr. and Mrs. Shai, would you mind if I have a word with the two of you?" Goldva said. The rest of the family had been sitting on a bench; Samuel listening to his walkman, Martin reading a book about Patch culture, and Mr. and Mrs. Shai talking quietly.

"What about?" Mr. Shai asked as Zeke sat in between Samuel and Martin.

"I want Zeke to train under us as a shaman," Goldva said.

His parents looked at him and Zeke gave them a pleading look. "I'm not sure. As I've already told Silva, we aren't big on this who spiritual thing, and we've seen the cost for _professional_ lessons." Mr. Shai said.

"No cost," Goldva said. Mr. Shai stared at her blankly so she continued. "Absolutely free. I find that Zeke is a very gifted child and I'd like for him to learn how to control his… unique abilities… We're willing to work with you on anything and everything you have concerns about. Costs of fuel, missing school. Everything."

"That seems nice and all but…" Mrs. Shai began to say.

"Have you ever noticed anything unique about the boy? Does he like to visit cemeteries? Get along well with animals? Have _imaginary_ friends? Has he ever known something that you thought would be impossible to know; almost like he was reading your mind? Letting him come here will help him."

Mr. and Mrs. Shai looked at Zeke. They had only been in the small village for a few hours and he already looked a lot healthier then what he had. There was a chance this could be good for him, but it also seemed too good to be true.

"Why don't we go to a different room and have an actual discussion where you won't have to be so compelled to hide your real thoughts on the matter from your son?" Goldva suggested. They hesitated at first but then agreed and allowed Goldva to escort them out of the shop.

"What did you say to that old crone to get her so wrapped around your finger?" Samuel asked. He had pulled his headphones down and was listening to the conversation.

"Honestly, she did most of the talking," Zeke said.

After half an hour went by Zeke and Martin decided to go walk around the village again; Samuel decided to stretch out across the bench and take a nap.

"Is this something you really want to do?" Martin asked snidely.

"With all my life," Zeke said as they explored in between the tepees.

"That's not saying a whole lot for your age," Martin said.

"I'm as much alive as you are so I don't know why my life should mean less than anyone else's," Zeke said.

Martin looked at him quizzically but didn't say anything. He didn't appreciate that his seven-year-old brother could match wits with him.

Zeke also didn't say anything. He didn't want to argue with someone who didn't want to at least try to understand the values he had in certain things. Zeke and Samuel may not get a long a whole lot, they still had fights, and they argued a lot, but at least Samuel, who didn't seem to give a damn about anything, didn't criticize Zeke for what he was and liked. Yes Samuel teased him for it, but he never criticized or openly judged him.

After walking around the village again, Martin and Zeke came back to the gift shop where Mr. and Mrs. Shai and Goldva were waiting.

"Alright Zeke, do you really want to come here and train and learn?" Mrs. Shai asked Zeke, who nodded his head 'yes.'

"Then it's settled," Goldva said. "Zeke, you will start off by learning the basics of shamanism. I understand that you've taught yourself a lot but we need to asset you and determine what level you need to be taught at."

"I understand Chief," Zeke said.

"Alright, well your parents have the schedule already so they'll let you know when you will come to see us." Goldva took a slow breath of air and then continued. "Your homework is this: come to the realization that there's nothing I can do to stop _them._" Goldva didn't want to use the word 'vision' in front of Zeke's family, fearful that Mr. and Mrs. Shai would take it the wrong way.

Zeke's face dropped. He was going to be cursed with this ability forever?

Goldva continued. "Once you truly understand that, then you will gain better control over the ability. Afterwards, you can be trained to utilize and control it."

Zeke sighed in relief. At least he'd be able to control it.

Mr. and Mrs. Shai stood awkwardly, listening to the conversation. They didn't like the secretiveness between their son and this Patch Chief who they had just met, but they had a choice to make. Distrust the Patch and watch as their son grew worst; possibly getting skinnier and even less energetic then what he once was. Or trust the Patch and hope that they really could bring their Zeke back to how he used to be.

The family said their goodbyes to the members of the Patch and made their way down the large hill, through the forest, and back to the minivan where they piled in, and drove home in silence.

On the drive back, Zeke took the time to stare out the back window, watching the Great Spirit flicker in the night. It seemed like he was looking at it for the first time, seeing it better and clearer then he'd ever seen it before. What was he going to learn from the Patch that his books weren't already teaching him? How soon would he learn to control his visions? Just acknowledging the visions, understanding that they would always happen, seemed to make him feel like they wouldn't haunt him as much. Maybe that concept in itself was another lesson?

The idea that once you realize what you're capable of, you can learn to control and eventually master it and make it a strength. And that's what Zeke wanted. Strength. Strength to be strong and to save the world from his ancestor. What would he have to do to become that strong? Becoming the Shaman King was out of the question now though because soon he would be an honorary member of the Patch Tribe.

That was the core ideal that had flashed through Goldva's mind. Zeke wished he could understand why, but no matter, he'd find out soon enough.

**xxx**

**AN: Hopefully you all liked this chapter ^^  
**


	4. The Pain of Loss

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this and I'm not trying to sell any of it**

**AN: Can you believe I initially planned to expand this chapter to contain even more happenings? But I decided to cut that initial chapter in half so we get this event here and the next smaller events in chapter 5.**

_xxxxx_

**Chapter 4: The Pain of Loss**

**xxxxx**

"Chief Goldva, I'm tired of this childish nonsense. I've developed far beyond simply controlling and integrating with a spirit, and I've already perfected the ability to integrate a spirit with an object. You know what it is I want to learn," Zeke said as he sat within the circle that was formed inside of the largest teepee in the Patch Reservation. Over his time with the Patch his voice had deepened ever so slightly and his hair had grown even longer. His arms were skinny but muscles had formed.

As he studied under the Patch people he learned that they only called their _reservation_a village for their tourists, when in fact the Patch Village was a an actual village positioned even closer to the Great Spirit and was where the second round of the Shaman Tournament would take place.

"Do not speak that way to your chief," Silva said. Silva had been a thorn in Zeke's side since he had started his lessons. Silva hated that Zeke looked so similar to Hao.

"Excuse me Silva but I don't think I was talking to you," Zeke said, he loved arguing with Silva; watching the older man grow irritated by a child's remarks made his day. Zeke smirked to himself at the sarcastic sound of an internal monologue playing in his head. Then he smirked to Silva as the angry voice of an internal monologue played in Silva's head. "Oh Silva you shouldn't think those things."

"Zeke I thought we told you not to read our thoughts," a Patch woman said from Zeke's right.

"Silva you must have better control of yourself," a Patch man sitting beside Silva said.

"Why must the two of you bicker?" Another woman said.

"We are all one tribe and respect must be shown to one another," another man said.

"Hao was once part of this tribe too and we all know what he did," Silva said.

"And without Hao you wouldn't be here," Zeke said to Silva. "I dislike him as much as you but nothing is going to happen if we focus on the past."

"Enough." Silence was had as the tribe members directed their attention to the far side of the teepee, the side directly across from the opening, to Goldva. She grabbed her large pipe and took a heavy drag from the tip. Slowly, she breathed out light blue smoke that danced across the room, taking the form of various images before dissolving into the stale, leather-scented air. "How has his training come along then?"

"As usual he's exhibited excellence. There is nothing more I can teach him," Silva said. His voice was filled with mixed emotion; a combination of relief that his student would finally be leaving him, but also of annoyance that his student, who he spited maliciously, was so strong.

"I see," Goldva said. She had a way of creating tension in a room; something she prided herself for. "You have grown much after these last couple years, Zeke. You're what, nine now?" Zeke nodded his head yes. "My, my, you are quite the natural when it comes to your Shamanistic power. Then again that is to be expected from someone given a second chance at life by the Great Spirit, and at such a young age."

"I was only a few hours old at the time," Zeke said. He knew Goldva was dragging out her decision about his training on purpose; she loved to make him sweat. He'd read her mind but she had the annoying ability of being able to block him from her thoughts.

"I suppose you may have shown the maturity to handle the next lesson at some point?" Goldva asked rhetorically. "It is only if you take the time to learn these one at a time, in order, that you will benefit from the next task."

Zeke clenched his hand energetically. Happy that Goldva was going to let him start learning about the elements. He had come to learn, over his history lessons with the various Patch members, that the reason why Hao was so powerful was because he had mastered the elements, and Zeke was sure that that was the key to becoming stronger than Zeke. Only a few people had master over the elements, and even then it was generally just one element. When a Patch tribe member learned of the elements, they generally just learned about the yin and yang qualities that an element provides along with various ways to use the elements to assist you. They almost never honed in on the skill to control the elements, mainly because they believed that they shouldn't control Mother Nature, and that it was better to work with her then against her. Every so often a member of the Patch would have a strong bond with an element though, and would be able to control it; but great patience was needed because there were many things that could go wrong.

"If you're ready then, we will start by teaching you about wind.

"Yes ma'am!" Zeke said.

Zeke left the tribe with a stack of books on the element: wind. He found his oldest brother Martin waiting for him in his new black car. Zeke wasn't sure what the type was; he wasn't the biggest fan of automobiles.

"That looks like a decent amount of homework," Martin said.

"Yeah well it happens," Zeke said, climbing into the front passenger seat. "You here for a visit then?"

Martin drove out of the parking lot, back to their parent's house. "Yep, college is going pretty good. Because of the AP courses I took as well as a few placement tests, I'm the equivalent of a third year."

"Holy crap, you're like an ultra-nerd," Zeke exclaimed.

"And you've been hanging around with Samuel too much," Martin said.

"Samuel's pretty psyched about summer. He's eager to start taking his driving lessons," Zeke said.

"That punk is going to be hell behind the wheel," Martin said.

"Naw, he wants a bike."

"There's no way our parents would get him a motorcycle." Martin laughed at the idea of Samuel actually thinking their parents would give him a motorcycle. Zeke laughed because Martin wasn't aware that Samuel had hustled money from enough people to buy his own motorcycle.

"It's nice you two actually get along thought," Martin said, referring to when Samuel used to beat Zeke up. Zeke kept silent. He couldn't tell Martin about the bond he had with Samuel. None of their family would understand it; he and Samuel had the bond because Samuel was the only one who really believed in Zeke's powers.

They had arrived at the house and Zeke raced inside to put his books away, yelling "down Fang, down!" as the family dog tried jumping on him in greeting. "Mom, Dad, we have a visitor."

He entered his room and made a gagging sound. "Do you really have to do that in my room?" Samuel was laying on his bed making-out with his new girlfriend; some skanky girl from his school. "I know we share this room but really?" Zeke placed his books on his desk.

"My bad, did you want to try?" Samuel grabbed the girl chin and moved her face to look at Zeke, offering up her blue-colored lips.

"Not particularly," Zeke said, facing away from the two of them and heading out of the room, his cheeks flushed from embarrassment. "Martin's visiting."

"I'm sorry little brother, I didn't realize you didn't like girls yet," Samuel said sarcastically as Zeke left.

The dinner Mrs. Shai made was eventful. Samuel stumbled down the stairs and into the dining room with a hint of alcohol on his breath, masked by mouth wash and going unnoticed by his family, except Zeke who had by now grown accustomed to Samuel's behavior. Mr. and Mrs. Shai never asked about the girl Samuel had had in his room so it was clear to Zeke that she had obviously sneaked into and out of the house successfully.

Their parents gushed over Martin's announcement about being in his _third_ year of college and the fact that this meant he wasn't required to stay in a dorm. Apparently he was using the tuition money that he would have spent on his first two years of school to make a down payment on a small three-bedroom house.

Once enough time had passed Zeke and Samuel asked to be excused from the table, stating they had homework to finish. They liked their oldest brother well enough but neither of them understood why his presence at the house was such a big deal. He had visited just a few weekends ago and Zeke and Samuel never really got along with him, though Zeke at least pretended to. Samuel was keen to disrespect Martin when he could and it almost seemed like the two of them hated each other.

"So when are you going to move out of my room?" Zeke asked as they entered their room.

"Your room? I was here first punk," Samuel said. "You can move your crap into Martin's little trophy room if you want your own place so bad."

They were making sarcastic jokes to one another about the fact that neither of them had been allowed to move into Martin's old bedroom because their parents claimed he may need it again. Afterwards Samuel hopped onto his bed and pulled out his walkman, listening to a mix tape he had made. Zeke grabbed the first book from his pile and began reading about the attributes associated to wind.

An hour or so went by and Zeke had made his way to the second book. Halfway through the book he felt like he was starting to understand the wind on a different level. The winds carefree attitude, creative and free flowing. The lightness and power. As he focused on these ideals he noticed a breeze within the room.

"Zeke… what are you reading?" Samuel said. He pulled off his headphones and looked over to Zeke. The breeze had picked up and was streaming around the room, rattling papers and poster and blowing their hair around.

"A book about the wind," Zeke said.

"Okay, mind doing that outside so you don't damage anything?" Samuel asked.

Zeke sighed, grabbed the rest of the books, and went back downstairs. His parents and Martin were in the living room talking, and didn't notice him go into the backyard. He turned on the porch light and sat cross-legged on the floor, opening his book back up.

By the end of the night he hadn't learned how to control the wind but he _had_ apparently learned how to summon it. Thinking of the wind and making himself consciously aware of it seemed to be the key to moving it; he just hadn't mastered his theory yet.

The next day after school, Zeke went to the library and borrowed three books to cover the other elements. He wasn't planning on learning them until Goldva thought he was ready, but he did at least want an initial understanding about what he'd be working with.

Back at the house, Samuel had to stay late at school because of a detention he had, Mr. Shai was at work, and of course Martin was off attending college, so the only ones home were Zeke and Mrs. Shai. Zeke focused on a book from the library about water. He knew he would be learning the elements in order of wind, water, earth, then fire, so water was first on his list.

The book taught him that water was calm but rash and also collective. Both peaceful and violent to the point of death. Cold and Hot. Ever changing. As he read he became more aware of the weight in his body and the moisture in his mouth and covering his eyes. He felt limp and wavy as he focused on feeling. Then he heard the noise of running water. Zeke stood up and walked to the bathroom, surprised to see the toilet on the verge of overflowing and the shower and sink faucets running.

"Zeke!" Mrs. Shai shouted from downstairs, snapping him out of his focus and causing the water level in the toilet to fall and the faucets to turn off.

He headed downstairs to find his mother staring at the kitchen sink.

"The strangest thing happened just now," she said. "I was grabbing some milk and the water just turned on and I couldn't get it to turn off."

"That is weird mom," Zeke said. They talked about the phenomenon for several hours and Zeke thought it was best not to tell her about the upstairs bathroom. Before he had a chance to start his book about earth, Mr. Shai had arrived home with Samuel and the family sat down to eat.

Later into the night, Zeke had grabbed the book on earth and, due to Samuel's expression, taken it to the backyard. As he read he learned how the earth was firm and unmoving except to great pressure caused by its own weight. This was an eye-opener for Zeke who found it intriguing that the only thing capable of moving the earth seemed to be the earth itself. As he read on he began feeling grounded and one with the dirt he was sitting on when a small tremor occurred. It shook the house lightly and didn't cease until Samuel barged out of the house and snatched the book out of Zeke's hands.

"No," Samuel said when Zeke tried to reach for the book.

"It's not like anything dangerous had happened," Zeke argued. "A little breeze, some running taps, a tremor light enough to be massaging, I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is that I'd rather have you practice these things with Silva. At least he can stop anything detrimental that might happen."

"Silva doesn't know how to handle this stuff," Zeke said.

"Goldva then." Samuel turned on his heal and walked back into the house, Zeke sulking in behind him.

Zeke decided that since he couldn't read his books he would just go to sleep early. After several hours he woke up to use the bathroom and realized everyone else was asleep; except for Samuel, who had sneaked out. Zeke wondered the house. Their stove was electric and there weren't any candles in the house, and with Samuel gone his lighter was gone too.

He made his way back to his room, turned on the light, and opened up the last book, on fire. The book said that fire was uncontrollable. Unattainable. It was raw energy that only needed a spark to ignite and then turn into rampaging mass of heat, fueled off of oxygen and the substance around it.

_Pop_

Seek looked up in shock and noticed sparks were igniting and dissolving around him. Fire was trying to create itself from the oxygen in the air but wasn't grabbing hold of anything to live off of. Then a spark landed on his comforter.

'_Shit!'_ Zeke thought. He grabbed his pillow and threw it over the small fire that was dancing along his comforter, put his rushing adrenaline caused a bigger spark to ignite the pillow and jump to his wall and floor. _'There isn't anything snapping me out of my focus!' _He realized as more sparks started igniting other parts of his room.

"Mom! Dad!" He called, hoping to alert them about the fire. He heard a shout and ran out of his room. Causing sparks to follow him into the hall. The was a flickering glow coming from his parents room. Without realizing it he had summoned a fire into their room by calling out to them.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to look at Fang as the dog walked up the stairs; sending sparks onto the ceiling overhead. The entire second story was amassed in flame and Zeke ran towards his parent's room. He grabbed the handle and cursed at the heat, shocked that it had already become so hot, but feeling the heat seemed to cause him to fuel more energy into the flames, making them larger and deadlier.

Fang barked, finally catching Zeke's attention and severing the connection he had with the flames. It was too late though; they had already manifested and were eating his house from the inside out. As Zeke tried to break the door down, yelling for his mom and dad, he saw the ceiling collapse on Fang. Fang, horribly shaken, clambered through the broken ceiling, his fur alight with fire, and ran for Zeke, burying his fangs into Zeke's leg and pulling the boy away from his parent's room.

"No Fang I need to help them!" Zeke said; kicking at the dog and trying to grab hold of something to keep from sliding down the hallway. Fang clenched his teeth harder into Zeke's leg, drawing a surmountable amount of blood as he yanked the boy down the stairs. "Argh!" Zeke yelled in pain as he tumbled down the stairs and gripped at his bloody leg.

The front door broke open as Zeke laid at the foot of the stairs, his dog clamping hold of his leg again and dragging Zeke towards the open door. Firemen had arrived, just as the ceiling of the first floor began to collapse and the fiery second floor crashed down to them. A few of them made to grab Zeke and help him out but Fang growled and snarled at them through his grip.

The dog brought Zeke outside, pulling him to the edge of the lawn, near the sidewalk. Fang let go of Zeke's leg and stared at him.

"F-Fang," Zeke said. He started to cry as he realized just how bad off Fang was. The dog's back and sides had been ripped open from the broken ceiling. His body fur had burnt off and his body had been charred black during the time it took to drag Zeke out of the house. Fang laid down and fell into a deep sleep that Zeke knew he wasn't going to awake from.

As Zeke sat on the lawn, crying, his leg bleeding onto the grass, he felt the presence of three spirits. One spirit, licking his face, belonged to Fang. It was odd to see both the charred remains of his dog and the glowing, beautiful spirit of his dog. On his other side were Mr. and Mrs. Shai.

"So you really do have powers," Mrs. Shai said.

"What the fuck did you do?" Samuel yelled, interrupting Zeke before he could reply to Mrs. Shai. He had just arrived to see his house had since become nonexistent due to the fire the firemen had put out. He noticed Fang's remains. "What did you fucking do Zeke?" He yelled, straddling Zeke, throwing Zeke's head to the pavement and punching him repetitively. "You read that book on fire didn't you? Where are our parents?"

"Samuel I'm bleeding," Zeke mumbled in between the punches.

"Oh believe me you'll be bleeding when I'm done with you," Samuel yelled. "Where are they?"

"They're standing next to us," Zeke said, looking up to the spirits of their parents.

Samuel looked in the direction Zeke was facing, but saw nothing.

"Samuel," Zeke said, exasperated, "my leg hurts a lot." Samuel looked to Zeke's leg and saw all the blood Zeke had lost.

"Why didn't they do anything to help you?" Samuel asked, regarding the firemen. But Zeke had lost too much blood to answer, and soon he was drifting out of consciousness, being haunted by visions of Hao, looking just like him and causing fire to the houses of different people all over the world, laughing the whole time.

Zeke was determined to control every element, especially fire, so that he would never cause destruction like he had again, and so that he could protect the world from the destruction Hao hoped to cause in the future.

**xxxxx**

**AN: It's probably going to be an extra chapter in the list before Yoh finally gets here regularly. Sorry about that but if I kept going this would probably be like fifteen pages long, and here seemed like a good enough place to end it. ;P**


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